Kim Stolz first came to our attention in 2005 as lesbian contestant on America’s Next Top Model. She then segued into an MTV personality and, more recently, a successful trader on Wall Street. Now she’s taking on a new role as co-owner of The Dalloway, the Soho bar-restaurant making a groundbreaking new addition to the city’s lesbian scene.

Amanda Leigh Dunn and Kim Stolz

“I found myself wanting somewhere to go in the community where the focus wasn’t primarily hooking up and drinking,” says Stolz (far right), who was recently honored as one of the year’s OUT 100. “Here people come, have a drink downstairs, hang out with friends—and then instead of leaving for a diner, they can head upstairs again.”

Stolz co-owns the Dalloway with another reality veteran, Amanda Leigh Dunn of Showtime’s The Real L Word. But don’t mistake the ladies for dilettantes: “It’s a vision I’ve had for years.” insists Stolz, 29. ” I had six weeks off between my last job and the one I have now, and this is what I did with it.”

Y’know, most of us would just veg out.

The Dalloway is named after title character in a Virginia Woolf novel, but with its dark wood tables, exposed brick walls and fireplace, it could just as easily be inspired by the Middle Ages—if not for thesteady stream of hip dykes making their way downstairs to the club-bar area.

Upstairs, executive chef Vanessa Miller (late of Noche in Boston) serves up inventive small plates like brussel-sprouts salad, duck sliders and short ribs with cherry-chipotle glaze. The drink menu makes knowing winks to Woolfe, with drinks like To The Lighthouse and A Moment’s Liberty, as well as other sirens of sapphic culture.

Superstar DJ Samantha Ronson was spinning at the Dalloway’s grand opening Tuesday night, but the venue has been quietly garnering a following—gay, straight and otherwise—since mid-November.

And yes, Kim’s model friends have been in—and they actually eat.

“I’ve had plenty of model friends and I think everybody eats,” Stolz teases. “My friends who diet the most aren’t models. And I don’t think ‘model’ is part of my identity anymore.”